Back Exercises

Back Exercise:
The following exercises are three basic exercises that can be done, at the gym, to build muscle in the upper and middle back.



Pull Ups:

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Pull ups focus primarily on strengthening the lower back, specifically the lower trapezius (pic 1) and upper latissimus (pic 2).

The starting position for a pull up is:
Hands on the bar above your head.
Hands spread roughly 6 inches past shoulder width.
Head up and chest expanded.

The movement is performed by pulling on the bar to raise your body to the bar.

The end position (at hight of motion) is:
Eyes just above the level of the bar.
Chest raised towards bar
Lower back contracted (as seen in pic 1).

If a regular pull up is too difficult perform a pull down.

Incline Bent Over Row:

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This type of bent over row, which I will call incline bent over row, focuses primarily on strengthening the middle trapezius (pic 3) and the upper trapezius (pic 4).

The starting position for incline row is:
Knees bent at a little over 45 degrees.
Back straight and chest expanded and raised.

Head up, butt out.
Hands on bar bell (both over or both under).

Bart bell resting on knees and arms straight.

The movement is performed by pulling the bar up to touch the lower abdomen/hips.

Make sure to contract the focused on muscles (pics 3 and 4).

The end position (at hight of motion) is:Bar touching just below belly button.
Back, legs, chest butt, and head in same position as start.
Shoulder blades pinched together (pic 3) and shoulders raised (pic 4)





Bent Over Row:

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This type of bent over row, which I will just call a bent over row, focuses primarily on the lower trapezius (pic 1) and middle trapezius (pic 3). However, this movement uses tall of the muscles in the back, specifically the muscles in the two previous exercises. It uses the entire trapezius muscle (pic 5) and the upper latissimus (pic 2).

The starting position for this movement is:

Weights on one end of the bar bell and other end in a corner.
Bar between legs and hands on bar just beneath weights.
Crouching over bar so back is straight, head is raised and chest is expanded.

The movement is performed by standing up (keeping back straight) so that legs are just past 45 Degrees and chest is expanded and positioned over weighted end of bar. Then the weighted end of the bar is pulled towards chest while other end remains in corner.

The end position (at hight of motion) is:
Back straight and chest expanded.
Head up and butt out.
Legs just past 45 degrees.
Weights on bar are touching chest.
Shoulder blades are pinched together.

Note: these three exercises pair very well with exercises that focus on the biceps or other back exercises.

    I perform these three exercises once every 4 days (ideally) in combination with 4 bicep movements.

    I perform each back exercise 4 times (4 sets) with roughly 10, 8, 8, then 6 repetitions (10,8,8 then 6 sets) respectively each time before moving to the next exercise.